


Time is a Funny Thing

by BandraK



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Once Upon A Time, Swan Queen - Freeform, Swen - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-18
Updated: 2015-05-18
Packaged: 2018-03-31 05:00:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 646
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3965305
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BandraK/pseuds/BandraK
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>On the day of the royal wedding no one from the enchanted forest ever expected to see, Emma thinks back over her life since coming to Storybrooke.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Time is a Funny Thing

Time was a funny thing. It never stopped moving but you could go for years feeling like nothing was changing or ever would and then there were moments that you’d miss if you blinked at the wrong time that could turn your whole world upside down. If you were lucky, it would be for the better but all too often in Emma’s experience it had been for the worst.

Henry showing up on her doorstep… That was a tricky one. Her whole world hadn’t just been turned upside down, it had been turned upside down, twisted through a half dozen dimensions, had everything but the kitchen sink thrown at it – most times by magic. Real magic. Not ‘pull-a-plastic-bird-out-of-a-rigged-top-hat’ magic but 'sleep-for-a-thousand years, fireballs, and poisoned fruit’ magic.

Half the time she’d wanted to leave, to just get in her trusty – if rusty – VW Bug and drive until the world turned right side up and started making sense again. And the other half… felt like home. For the first time in her life she felt like she belonged somewhere.

And it had made her want to run even more. 

It was so much easier not to belong. To not have someplace that mattered to you because then you had nothing to lose. No one to disappoint if you screwed up and no one to disappoint you. It was safer. Even without the magic and fairytales-are-real crap to deal with, it was safer to not belong.

You couldn’t get your heart broken that way. Belonging meant letting people in, letting yourself depend on them to be there for you when you needed them and wanting to be there for them when they needed you because being needed was addictive. It was the worst kind of addiction, the kind you didn’t even notice happening, the kind that creeped up on you and left you unawares until they stopped needing you and it all came crashing down. All the moments you shared, all the smiles and laughs and more, all the things that made the high of being needed feel so damn good turned into a thousand blades that cut your heart to shreds with every song, every scent, every word and colour and taste that reminded you of what you had. 

And if anyone knew how much losing that high could hurt, it was Emma. She’d been living with it all her life.

But she hadn’t left. Henry had wormed his way into her home that night and by the time they’d gotten him back to Storybrooke, he’d wormed his way into her heart.

Or maybe he’d never really left it. Not that it mattered because the result was the same either way. She was needed. She was hooked.

And then… Regina.

Regina…

Even now Emma was hard pressed to put that woman into words but looking back on their first encounter it was as obvious as the nose on her face that the Brunette had dug herself every bit as deep into her heart as their son had. 

How she hadn’t seen it sooner was anyone’s guess. Hell, how anyone else hadn’t seen it before now was anyone’s guess. Not even Gold, for all his Machiavellian machinations and mystical foresight had seen it.

Or if he had, he’d kept it to himself. 

Just like she had. 

Until now.

Emma looked out at audience that had gathered here today, a small smile tugged at the corner of her mouth as she caught Grumpy trying to surreptitiously dry his eyes with a rumpled handkercheif, her eyes pausing briefly on the smiling faces of her parents before returning to Regina’s own beaming grin.

“If anyone has an objection to this union, speak now or forever hold your peace.”

Silence. 

Emma held her breath.

She stepped forward, leaving the other bridesmaids behind as she turned to face the all-too-soon-to-be-married couple. 

“I do.”

**Author's Note:**

> A while (read year) ago I decided to try my hand at some tumblr Once Upon a Time rp-ing... one account didn't work out so much so I started posting OUAT fanfic there instead; never intending to post them here. Going over the account today and changed my mind. 
> 
> So here they are (separately, mind you, not all together), with some minor editing (and titles too; fancy, fancy titles). Enjoy. ;D
> 
> And just to clear up any confusion (and I know there may be some given the way I phrased the ending) Regina was not marrying Emma, hence the latter's objection. Not sure who Regina was marrying (or should I say going to marry since I kind of left things open ended so who knows what happened) and I don't think I ever really had anyone particular in mind when I originally wrote it. If you absolutely need a face to go with Regina's nameless groom, go with Robin.


End file.
